Much has been said about extreme heat and drought conditions around the country — but not in Mount Airy, which was both cooler and wetter than usual during August.
In fact, two low-temperature records were tied here last month which had been established 79 years ago as World War II raged.
This included a reading of 54 degrees on Aug. 19 which matched a record set on that date in 1944, according to a monthly statistical breakdown from F.G. Doggett Water Plant, the city’s official weather-monitoring station.
Then on the next day, the mercury dipped to 53 degrees, tying the previous record for Aug. 20, also in 1944, which was the coolest temperature recorded here last month.
On the other end of the scale, the mercury hit 93 degrees on Aug. 25, taking high-temperature honors last month.
All this combined to produce a lower-than-usual average temperature for August as a whole, 73.7 vs. 74.3 degrees.
Weather records have been kept in Mount Airy since 1924.
Rainfall nearly double
Coupled with the cooler weather last month was a precipitation total of 8.42 inches.
That dwarfed the all-time local average for August of 4.34 inches.
Last month’s output was bolstered by a 2.76-inch deluge during a single day, measured on Monday, Aug. 28, accompanied by widespread flooding.
Measurable rainfall occurred on 10 of August’s 31 days.
As of the end of August, annual precipitation stood at 41.9 inches, 8.5 inches or 25.4%, above the local average for the first eight months of the year, 33.40 inches.
Fog was noted on eight days during August.
Source: https://www.mtairynews.com